Title: Unaccustomed Earth
Author: Jhumpa Lahiri
Genre: Fiction
I adored Interpreter of Maladies and very much enjoyed The Namesake. Thus it was with great excitement that I awaited the release of Unaccustomed Earth. B and I saw The Savages a couple months ago and the best way we could describe the film was to say "it was bittersweet though far more bitter than sweet." I think that's a good description. Saying it was melancholy or sad wouldn't give the fullness of picture that bittersweet does.
I've found Lahiri's work to also be "bittersweet though far more bitter than sweet" and Unaccustomed Earth is no exception. It is a collection of stories and not one could be described as being a happy one. They read as incredibly nuanced and believable stories that linger with you long after you're done reading them. Perhaps even more than the stories linger with you though moments from the stories linger with you. I find that it takes an incredibly gifted author to craft passages and individual moments that are strong enough to stay with you instead of just reliving the story as a whole. Lahiri seems to have this ability in bulk.
I love this book and highly recommend it though I can see clearly that it's not a book to everyone's taste. There are no tidy, happy endings and no easy answers to any of the character's problems. In short it's a lot like life.
Some people have complained that Lahiri's writing is too narrow in scope. Meaning she writes a great deal about the children of Indian immigrants who live in New England, frequently attend Ivy League schools and deal with issues of being part of and present in two very different cultures. While true that she does focus on Indian-Americans I wouldn't call the scope narrow or limited at all. As I mentioned before her writing is nuanced and finds differences as well as similarities and common experiences amongst her characters. I enjoy that she has chosen one large topic to be the focus of her writing and explores it in detail.
Author: Jhumpa Lahiri
Genre: Fiction
I adored Interpreter of Maladies and very much enjoyed The Namesake. Thus it was with great excitement that I awaited the release of Unaccustomed Earth. B and I saw The Savages a couple months ago and the best way we could describe the film was to say "it was bittersweet though far more bitter than sweet." I think that's a good description. Saying it was melancholy or sad wouldn't give the fullness of picture that bittersweet does.
I've found Lahiri's work to also be "bittersweet though far more bitter than sweet" and Unaccustomed Earth is no exception. It is a collection of stories and not one could be described as being a happy one. They read as incredibly nuanced and believable stories that linger with you long after you're done reading them. Perhaps even more than the stories linger with you though moments from the stories linger with you. I find that it takes an incredibly gifted author to craft passages and individual moments that are strong enough to stay with you instead of just reliving the story as a whole. Lahiri seems to have this ability in bulk.
I love this book and highly recommend it though I can see clearly that it's not a book to everyone's taste. There are no tidy, happy endings and no easy answers to any of the character's problems. In short it's a lot like life.
Some people have complained that Lahiri's writing is too narrow in scope. Meaning she writes a great deal about the children of Indian immigrants who live in New England, frequently attend Ivy League schools and deal with issues of being part of and present in two very different cultures. While true that she does focus on Indian-Americans I wouldn't call the scope narrow or limited at all. As I mentioned before her writing is nuanced and finds differences as well as similarities and common experiences amongst her characters. I enjoy that she has chosen one large topic to be the focus of her writing and explores it in detail.
; "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay")
; "The Year of Magical Thinking")
; "American Nerd")
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